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Just thought to leave an aside for anyone considering working in Utah. I Lived in Orem, Utah for a long-time super interesting state. Everyone is super conserv

by omot 8y ago

Just thought to leave an aside for anyone considering working in Utah. I Lived in Orem, Utah for a long-time super interesting state. Everyone is super conservative, no doubt, but they are the nicest people I've ever met. They can be "accidentally" racist and bigoted but I attribute that for their ignorance as opposed to hate. The church itself governs and operates like a socialist country. Every church member in the world pays 10% of their income to the church, and that money in turn goes towards financing all three Brigham Young Universities - one in Provo Utah, one in Hawaii, and one in Idaho. So a student could get a private-school education for only $2000-5000 a year. The money also goes towards construction projects to build new temples and new churches. It goes towards relief for families that are struggling financially. The state also has some the best national parks in the countries, and probably the best slopes to ski on. I think people mentioned this but there is a pretty significant tech presence there as well. Some downsides, everyone is Mormon is not a lot of stuff is open on Sundays, and even if you're a devout atheist, you'll probably go to church a couple times, because everyone around you goes and you have nothing better to do. Very little diversity, racially, ethnically, politically, religiously, it's almost like living in Japan, where everyone is nice to you but you'll always be considered an outsider.

pyromine 8y ago
This is pretty spot on, moved from the Northeast to Utah for school, now done with school and I'm enjoying my time here because I'm in love with the mountains but I'm planning how to move out of the state because I know that I will never feel culturally secure here. Being part of the outdoor community I never find myself struggling to find like minded people, but I do feel like an outsider to society as a whole.
- therealdrag0 8y ago
  Heard good things about Seattle or Boise and Colorado for outdoor culture.
tntn 8y ago
> It goes towards relief for families that are struggling financially. Sort of a technicality, but that money doesn't come from the 10% tithe. It comes from what is called "fast offerings" that is a separate offering associated with a monthly fast.
rsweeney21 8y ago
Yeah, I'd say this is pretty accurate. I moved to Utah from Silicon Valley and I've been blown away by the incredible outdoor activities here. I live in Lehi. I'm 5min from work, 5min from epic mountain biking, 5min from incredible hiking, 10min from rock climbing in a canyon, 15min from fly fishing in the mountains, 30min from some of the best skiing in the world, 3.5 hours from zion's, moab, bryce, canyonlands. There's plenty to complain about, but the outdoors here are hard to beat.
Osiris 8y ago
I've been Mormon my whole life and Utah still feels weird to me. The culture is definitely influenced by the Church, but the culture is distinctly "Utahn". Go meet some Mormons in California, New York, or out of the country, and you'll see the difference.
- swsieber 8y ago
  Indeed. Over half the Mormons live outside of the U.S. Some places have higher concentrations than others. Tonga for instance is roughly 60%. Even getting out to Idaho, Arizona or California (still higher than average mormon density areas), and you'll encounter a different culture.
jbm 8y ago
Just a note - and I am sorry to derail this conversation - but in my experience, Non-Japanese residents do not have to be outsiders in Japan. The people who raise that point the most, in my experience, are English teachers who don't speak Japanese, or have had some kind of privileged background. I wasn't part of either in North America; at this point, I would be hard pressed to point at too many things that are particularly different for me and my Japanese co-workers. If you do speak Japanese and have the desire to be a part of the community, you can be part of non-political society. I know plenty of non-Japanese who can participate in everything (except for voting, which is admittedly a big thing). Some people point to police harassment (and I have experienced it), but I have seen Japanese people pulled over to have their bags searched and their cycle registration checked. It's a different norm. That's not to say it is a great thing to be active in Japanese society. Being part of the PTA is a pain in the rear. There is plenty of meaningless inefficiency in "group activities". Everyone takes the same days off and you need to book together time months in advance. But if you want to be in the in-circle, and want to be part of traditional celebrations, you can. (Especially in Tokyo) On the other hand, as a non-Christian who worked for a company in Salt Lake City, I doubt I could be a part of society there in the same way that I am here. I really liked my co-workers in Provo, more than even my co-workers at some companies in Japan. They were interesting and fun to be around, even when we had different political beliefs. However, I doubt I could ever be a close friend to any of them because they had beliefs I didn't share, and couldn't share. It's not like Japan (or Tokyo at least); if you are decent enough at the language, you can slip into groups and be a normal member of society.
mbillie1 8y ago
The case is not so extreme in SLC. I've lived here about 4.5 years and while much of the state is overwhelmingly Mormon (I do not practice or sympathize with any religion), SLC is not so different from other similar-sized cities culturally. There's great food, arts, music, and so on. Obviously for a non-Mormon the outdoors access is the primary draw here in my opinion, but it's a nice place to live regardless.

by omot 8y ago

pyromine 8y ago

This is pretty spot on, moved from the Northeast to Utah for school, now done with school and I'm enjoying my time here because I'm in love with the mountains but I'm planning how to move out of the state because I know that I will never feel culturally secure here. Being part of the outdoor community I never find myself struggling to find like minded people, but I do feel like an outsider to society as a whole.

therealdrag0 8y ago
Heard good things about Seattle or Boise and Colorado for outdoor culture.

tntn 8y ago

> It goes towards relief for families that are struggling financially. Sort of a technicality, but that money doesn't come from the 10% tithe. It comes from what is called "fast offerings" that is a separate offering associated with a monthly fast.

rsweeney21 8y ago

Yeah, I'd say this is pretty accurate. I moved to Utah from Silicon Valley and I've been blown away by the incredible outdoor activities here. I live in Lehi. I'm 5min from work, 5min from epic mountain biking, 5min from incredible hiking, 10min from rock climbing in a canyon, 15min from fly fishing in the mountains, 30min from some of the best skiing in the world, 3.5 hours from zion's, moab, bryce, canyonlands. There's plenty to complain about, but the outdoors here are hard to beat.

Osiris 8y ago

I've been Mormon my whole life and Utah still feels weird to me. The culture is definitely influenced by the Church, but the culture is distinctly "Utahn". Go meet some Mormons in California, New York, or out of the country, and you'll see the difference.

swsieber 8y ago
Indeed. Over half the Mormons live outside of the U.S. Some places have higher concentrations than others. Tonga for instance is roughly 60%. Even getting out to Idaho, Arizona or California (still higher than average mormon density areas), and you'll encounter a different culture.

jbm 8y ago

Just a note - and I am sorry to derail this conversation - but in my experience, Non-Japanese residents do not have to be outsiders in Japan. The people who raise that point the most, in my experience, are English teachers who don't speak Japanese, or have had some kind of privileged background. I wasn't part of either in North America; at this point, I would be hard pressed to point at too many things that are particularly different for me and my Japanese co-workers. If you do speak Japanese and have the desire to be a part of the community, you can be part of non-political society. I know plenty of non-Japanese who can participate in everything (except for voting, which is admittedly a big thing). Some people point to police harassment (and I have experienced it), but I have seen Japanese people pulled over to have their bags searched and their cycle registration checked. It's a different norm. That's not to say it is a great thing to be active in Japanese society. Being part of the PTA is a pain in the rear. There is plenty of meaningless inefficiency in "group activities". Everyone takes the same days off and you need to book together time months in advance. But if you want to be in the in-circle, and want to be part of traditional celebrations, you can. (Especially in Tokyo) On the other hand, as a non-Christian who worked for a company in Salt Lake City, I doubt I could be a part of society there in the same way that I am here. I really liked my co-workers in Provo, more than even my co-workers at some companies in Japan. They were interesting and fun to be around, even when we had different political beliefs. However, I doubt I could ever be a close friend to any of them because they had beliefs I didn't share, and couldn't share. It's not like Japan (or Tokyo at least); if you are decent enough at the language, you can slip into groups and be a normal member of society.

mbillie1 8y ago

The case is not so extreme in SLC. I've lived here about 4.5 years and while much of the state is overwhelmingly Mormon (I do not practice or sympathize with any religion), SLC is not so different from other similar-sized cities culturally. There's great food, arts, music, and so on. Obviously for a non-Mormon the outdoors access is the primary draw here in my opinion, but it's a nice place to live regardless.